Breaking In The Habit

What is Consecrated Life?

Among the most recognizable signs of the Catholic Church are monks and nuns. Even if you’re not Catholic, you can look at the distinct garb of someone who looks like me and know something about them.

I mean, really. Even if you’re not a Christian, who hasn’t seen Sister Act?

That said, not everyone dressed in this way necessarily has the same form of life, and there are plenty of other forms of consecrated life that have no distinct garb at all. What are the many forms of consecrated life and how are they related to one another?

Why Some Religious Communities are Dying

For those of a certain age, seeing a flock of nuns serving an elementary school or witnessing the ordination of a large class of men isn’t a thing of fantasy, it’s just of the past. This is the way the world used to work long ago. Many people can remember classes of 50 men or women entering convents, entire mansions filled with religious. What a time that was!

Today, this is most certainly not the case, as many from that era have aged out and fewer people are entering today. Numbers have been on the decline since the 1970s, and it seems like there’s nothing that can be done about it.

Yes… and no.

While overall numbers are nothing like they were 60 years ago, there are men and women still entering consecrated life. They’re just choosing certain Orders over others. Which, if you are connected to an Order or congregation that hasn’t seen many vocations of late, might lead you to ask an important question: “why aren’t they joining us?”

In this video, I’d like to offer my take.